Coronary Artery Anomalies Program

The Coronary Artery Anomalies Program at Lurie Children’s is dedicated to the diagnosis and ongoing monitoring of children with coronary artery anomalies. These congenital coronary anomalies include:

Single coronary artery

Anomalous aortic origin of the coronary artery (AAOCA)

Anomalous left coronary artery arising from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA)

Myocardial bridging

Gathering Data to Help Future AAOCA Patients

Our team is part of a national consortium of pediatric cardiologists and cardiovascular surgeons who are pooling their data on the outcomes of thousands of AAOCA patients through the support of the Congenital Heart Surgeons’ Society. As more data is collected, these physician-scientists will be able to establish a baseline decision-making model, which will help them predict the best course of treatment for patients, depending on the child’s specific condition and symptoms.

What to Expect

Our program identifies children with anomalous aortic origins of the right coronary arteries and helps their families and doctors determine the best course of treatment. Our team will analyze the patient’s test results and examinations, and decide whether surgical intervention is needed and when it should ideally be performed, if necessary.

Patients will be evaluated with a combination of the following techniques:

If the testing shows that the child has a coronary artery anomaly, our physicians will make appropriate recommendations for ongoing care, often consulting with other experts around the country as needed.

Our Specialists

Our team is made up of cardiologists, medical imaging specialists and cardiovascular surgeons.